Venera 16

1983 uncrewed Soviet spacecraft to Venus

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Venera 16

Venusian topography by Veneras 15/16

Mission type| Venus orbiter
Operator| Soviet Academy of Sciences
COSPAR ID| 1983-054A
SATCAT no.| 14107
Mission duration|  Overall: 1 year, 1 month
At Venus: 9 months
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type| 4V-2
Manufacturer| NPO Lavochkin
Launch mass| 5,300 kilograms (11,700 lb)[1]
Dry mass| 4,000 kilograms (8,800 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date| June 7, 1983, 02:32 (1983-06-07UTC02:32) UTC[1]
Rocket| Proton-K/D-1
Launch site| Baikonur 200/40
End of mission
Last contact| June 13, 1985 (1985-06-14)[2]
Orbital parameters
Reference system| Cytherocentric
Semi-major axis| 45,632.0 kilometres (28,354.4 mi)
Pericytherion altitude| 7,081 kilometres (4,400 mi)
Apocytherion altitude| 72,079 kilometres (44,788 mi)
Inclination| 92.5 degrees
Period| 24 hours
Venus orbiter
Orbital insertion| October 11, 1983[citation needed]
Orbits| 243

Venera

<- Venera 15

Venera-D ->

Venera 16 (Russian: Венера-16 meaning Venus 16) was a spacecraft sent to Venus by the Soviet Union. This uncrewed orbiter was to map the surface of Venus using high resolution imaging systems. The spacecraft was identical to Venera 15 and based on modifications to the earlier Venera space probes. The latest data from the spacecraft were received on June 13, 1985, when it responded to the signal sent from Earth for Vega 1.

## Mission profile

[edit]

Venera 16 was launched on June 7, 1983, at 02:32:00 UTC and reached Venus' orbit on October 11, 1983.

The spacecraft was inserted into Venus orbit a day apart from Venera 15, with its orbital plane shifted by an angle of approximately 4° relative to one another probe. This made it possible to reimage an area if necessary. The spacecraft was in a nearly polar orbit with a periapsis of ~1,000 kilometres (620 mi), at 62°N latitude, and an apoapsis of ~65,000 kilometres (40,000 mi), with an inclination ~90°, the orbital period being ~24 hours.

Together with Venera 15, the spacecraft imaged the area from the north pole down to about 30°N latitude (i.e., approx. 25% of Venus's surface) over the 8 months of mapping operations.

## Spacecraft structure

[edit]

The Venera 15 and 16 spacecraft were identical and were based on modifications to the orbiter portions of the Venera 9 and Venera 14 probes. Each spacecraft consisted of a 5 metres (16 ft) long cylinder with a 0.6 m (2.0 ft) diameter, 1.4 m (4.6 ft) tall parabolic dish antenna for the synthetic aperture radar at one end. A 1-metre (3 ft 3 in) diameter parabolic dish antenna for the radio altimeter was also located at this end. The electrical axis of the radio altimeter antenna was lined up with the axis of the cylinder. The electrical axis of the SAR deviated from the spacecraft axis by 10 degrees. During imaging, the radio altimeter would be lined up with the center of the planet (local vertical) and the SAR would be looking off to the side at 10 degrees. A bulge at the opposite end of the cylinder held fuel tanks and propulsion units. Two square solar arrays extended like wings from the sides of the cylinder. A 2.6-metre (8.5 ft) radio dish antenna for communications was also attached to the side of the cylinder. The spacecraft each weighed 4,000 kilograms (8,800 lb).

Both Venera 15 and 16 were equipped with a synthetic aperture radar. A radar was necessary in this mission because nothing else would be able to penetrate the dense clouds of Venus. The probes were equipped with on board computers that saved the images until the entire image was complete.

List of spacecraft instruments and experiments:

* Polyus-V Synthetic Aperture Radar
* Omega Radar Altimeter
* Infrared Fourier Spectrometer
* Cosmic-Ray Detectors (6 sensors)
* Solar-Plasma Detectors

To get to Venus, Venera 16 was placed in a heliocentric orbit with perihelion of 0.71 astronomical units, aphelion of 1.01 astronomical units, eccentricity of 0.17, orbital inclination of 2.3 degrees and orbital period of 293 days.

## See also

[edit]

* Spaceflight portal

* List of missions to Venus

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Siddiqi, Asif (2018). Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 (PDF) (second ed.). NASA History Program Office.
2. ^ Siddiqi, Asif A. (2018). Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 (PDF). The NASA history series (second ed.). Washington, DC: NASA History Program Office. p. 160\. ISBN 9781626830424. LCCN 2017059404. SP2018-4041.

## External links

[edit]

* The Soviet Exploration of Venus
* Catalog of Soviet Venus images
* Venera 16
* Venera 15/16 Radar Mosaic Browser

* v
* t
* e

Venera program

Flybys|

* Venera 1
* Venera 2

Orbiters|

* Venera 15
* Venera 16

Descent probes|

* Venera 3
* Venera 4
* Venera 5
* Venera 6
* Venera 7

Landers|

* Venera 8
* Venera 9
* Venera 10
* Venera 11
* Venera 12
* Venera 13
* Venera 14

Failed launches|

* Tyazhely Sputnik
* Venera 2MV-1 No.1
* Venera 2MV-1 No.2
* Venera 2MV-2 No.1
* Kosmos 21
* Venera 3MV-1 No.2
* Kosmos 27
* Kosmos 96
* Kosmos 167
* Kosmos 359
* Kosmos 482
* Venera 1964A

Future missions|

* Venera-D

* v
* t
* e

Spacecraft missions to Venus

Active missions|

| Flybys|

* Solar Orbiter‡ (en route)
* Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer‡ (en route)

|

Past missions|

| Orbiters|

* Magellan
* Pioneer Venus Orbiter
* Venera 9
* 10
* 15
* 16
* Venus Express
* Akatsuki

|

Flybys|

* Venera 1†
* Mariner 2
* Zond 1†
* Venera 2†
* Mariner 5
* 10‡
* Venera 11
* 12
* 13
* 14
* Vega 1
* 2
* Galileo‡
* Cassini–Huygens‡
* MESSENGER‡
* IKAROS
* Shin-en†
* Parker Solar Probe‡
* BepiColombo‡

Descent probes|

* Venera 3†
* 4
* 5
* 6
* Pioneer Venus Multiprobe

Landers|

* Venera 7
* 8
* 9
* 10
* 11
* 12
* 13
* 14
* Vega 1
* 2
* Pioneer Venus Small Probes

Balloon probes|

* Vega 1
* 2

Failed launches|

* Tyazhely Sputnik
* Mariner 1
* 2MV-1 No.1
* 2MV-1 No.2
* 2MV-2 No.1
* Kosmos 21
* 3MV-1 No.2
* Kosmos 27
* 96
* 167
* 482

Planned missions|

| Orbiters|

* Venus Orbiter Mission (2028)
* VERITAS (2031)
* EnVision (2031)

|

Flybys|

* Dragonfly‡ (2028)
* MBR Explorer‡ (2028)
* Tianwen-4‡ (2030)

Descent probes|

* Venus Life Finder (2026-2027)
* DAVINCI (2031–2032)

Proposed missions|

| Dedicated missions|

* Venera-D

|

Flybys|

* Mercury-P
* Uranus Orbiter and Probe‡

Cancelled
or not developed|

* AREE
* European Venus Explorer
* CUVE
* HAVOC
* HOVER
* Inspiration Mars
* Laplace-P
* TMK-Mavr
* VAMP
* Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar
* Vesta
* VICI
* VISAGE
* VISE
* VOICE
* VOX
* Zephyr

Program overviews|

* Venera
* 3MV
* Mariner
* Pioneer Venus
* Vega

Related|

* Colonization
* Observations and explorations
* List of artificial objects on Venus
* List of missions
* Manned Venus flyby
* Terraforming
* VeSpR

* Missions are ordered by launch date. † indicates failure en route or before any data returned. ‡ indicates use of the planet as a gravity assist en route to another destination.

* v
* t
* e

← 1982

Orbital launches in 1983

1984 →

January|

* Kosmos 1437
* Unnamed

February|

* OPS 0252
* OPS 0252 SSU-1
* OPS 0252 SSU-2
* OPS 0252 SSU-3

March|

* Kosmos 1443
* NOAA-8

April|

* STS-6 (TDRS-1)
* OPS 2925
* Soyuz T-8

May|

* Intelsat V F-6

June|

* OPS 6432
* OPS 6432 SSU-1
* OPS 6432 SSU-2
* OPS 6432 SSU-3
* ECS-1
* OSCAR-10
* STS-7 (Anik C2, Palapa B1, SPAS-01, OSTA-2)
* OPS 0721
* OPS 3899
* Soyuz T-9

July|

* OPS 7304

August|

* Progress 17

September|

* STS-8 (INSAT-1B)

October|

* Intelsat V F-7
* Progress 18

November|

* STS-9

Unknown
month|

* Kosmos 1428
* Kosmos 1429
* Kosmos 1430
* Kosmos 1431
* Kosmos 1432
* Kosmos 1433
* Kosmos 1434
* Kosmos 1435
* Kosmos 1436
* IRAS
* PIX-2
* Kosmos 1438
* Sakura 2a
* Kosmos 1439
* LIPS-2
* Kosmos 1440
* Kosmos 1441
* Tenma
* Kosmos 1442
* Kosmos 1444
* Molniya-3 No.34
* Ekran No.18L
* Kosmos 1445
* Kosmos 1446
* Molniya-1-56
* Astron
* Kosmos 1447
* Kosmos 1448
* Kosmos 1449
* Molniya-1 No.68
* Kosmos 1450
* Gran' No.23L
* Kosmos 1451
* Satcom 1R
* Kosmos 1452
* Rohini RS-D2
* Kosmos 1453
* Kosmos 1454
* Kosmos 1455
* Kosmos 1456
* Kosmos 1457
* Kosmos 1458
* GOES 6
* Kosmos 1459
* Kosmos 1460
* Kosmos 1461
* Kosmos 1462
* Kosmos 1463
* Kosmos 1464
* Kosmos 1465
* Kosmos 1466
* EXOSAT
* Kosmos 1467
* Venera 15
* Venera 16
* Kosmos 1468
* Kosmos 1469
* Kosmos 1470
* HILAT
* Kosmos 1471
* Galaxy 1
* Gorizont No.17L
* Prognoz 9
* Kosmos 1472
* Kosmos 1473
* Kosmos 1474
* Kosmos 1475
* Kosmos 1476
* Kosmos 1477
* Kosmos 1478
* Kosmos 1479
* Kosmos 1480
* Kosmos 1481
* Kosmos 1482
* OPS 7994
* Molniya-1 No.66
* Kosmos 1483
* Kosmos 1484
* Kosmos 1485
* Telstar 301
* Kosmos 1486
* Kosmos 1487
* Sakura 2b
* Kosmos 1488
* Kosmos 1489
* Kosmos 1490
* Kosmos 1491
* Kosmos 1492
* Fanhui Shi Weixing 6
* Kosmos 1493
* Gran' No.24L
* Molniya-3 No.32
* Kosmos 1494
* Kosmos 1495
* Kosmos 1496
* Satcom 2R
* Kosmos 1497
* Kosmos 1498
* Kosmos 1499
* Galaxy-2
* Soyuz 7K-ST No. 16L
* Kosmos 1500
* Ekran No.25L
* Kosmos 1501
* Kosmos 1502
* Kosmos 1503
* Kosmos 1504
* Kosmos 1505
* Kosmos 1506
* Meteor-2 No.10
* Kosmos 1507
* Kosmos 1508
* Kosmos 1509
* OPS 1294
* Molniya-1 No.48
* Kosmos 1510
* Kosmos 1511
* Gorizont No.18L
* Kosmos 1512
* Kosmos 1513
* Kosmos 1514
* Kosmos 1515
* Molniya-3 No.35
* Kosmos 1516
* Kosmos 1517
* Kosmos 1518
* Kosmos 1519
* Kosmos 1520
* Kosmos 1521

Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ).
Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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